Pod to PC

Let me tell you a story about me and the iPod: Between 2003 and 2005 I was out of the country and was unable to remain abreast with technological changes. After arriving home, I remember driving with my older brother somewhere and listening to some music (my brother used to really love music - now he just likes it). He kept changing songs using some small, magical, music playing device. I asked, "what is that?" pointing to the device. He replied with a little surprise: "an iPod..." I then asked the question that would change my life forever: "What's an iPod?"

Thing is, iPod's came out in 2001 but were so expensive until 2003 that I never heard about them up to the point of my leaving the country. I was in Brazil and if iPod's were unattainable in the U.S., they were most certainly unattainable in Brazil.

This Newsweek demonstrates that iPod's really became
uber-popular in 2004 - check out the date of the issue

The point of the story is that when I first became introduced with the iPod, I thought it was sweet because that would mean my friends could give me all the music on their iPod by simply attaching it to my computer and uploading all the files. Alas, Apple (and record labels of course) were fully aware that people would want to share music in such a way and therefore made it completely impossible to use iTunes to take music off an iPod and put it back on a computer.

Although I may have wanted to use this method to share music in the past, today I wish that I could just use my iPod as a means of backing up my iTunes library. I own an 80gb iPod Classic. They only sell 160gb classics at present. I want to be able ot use my iPod to listen to music AND backup my music in the even that my computer hard drive were to fail. Unfortunately, because people (like me) would use a iPod to Computer function to share music, Apple refuses to allow the functionality.

Despite the fact that iTunes does not allow you to transfer music from iPod to PC, MANY MANY applications exist that will enable you to just that. Today's post is one such application.

Pod to PC: The following information comes directly from Pod to PC's About page and explains very well the benefits of using Pod to PC.

Applications and Features:

	Easily copy any music or video files from any iPod onto your computer.
	The full version of Pod to PC is 100% free. There are no transfer limitations.
	Recover your music in iTunes after your computer crashes by transferring the music on your iPod or iPhone back to your computer.
	Preview music and movies on any iPod before transferring it into your iTunes library.
	Use the Automatic Transfer button to instantly select, then transfer all songs on an iPod that are not already in your iTunes Music Library.
	Easily copy a whole or partial playlist from any iPod into iTunes.
	Prevent duplicate transfers: Tracks already in iTunes are indicated with a blue check.
	All track info gets transferred including the track play count, rating (out of 5 stars), album and more.
	Quickly find the tracks your looking for with the Pod to PC search bar and filter options.
	Automatic upgrades notifications, keeps users up to date with the latest iPod and iTunes versions.

YamiPod

Have you ever needed (or wanted) to pull the files off your iPod and stick them on your computer? I have an interesting story to that effect. I was out of the country for two years and when I got back, I had no idea what an iPod was. I was in the car with my brother when I saw him using one. I asked, "what the heck is that thing?" He kindly (to his credit - I have great brothers) responded "an iPod." I asked, "what's an iPod?" After his explananation I knew that I was destined to obtain one and use it to its fullest potential. I did.

I got a 30 gb black video iPod which I affectionately deemed my "Gold Baby." In fact, when you plugged in my iPod, it was literally titled, Gold Baby. Anyway, I decided when I first got my iPod that I would try and take some of the files off by simply dragging and releasing (you know, I was experimenting). Well, to my dismay, I lost all my data as a result of my naivety. So, I discovered that day that you can't pull music off an iPod and to just not try. I was naive and wrong again. Indeed you can pull your music off, you just need a special way to get around the defenses Apple has in place. A solution: YamiPod.

YamiPod is a very simple application that simply allows you to manage your music and copy files from the iPod to the computer without any hiccup. Coincidentally, I began using YamiPod only 2 months prior to my loss of the once great Gold Baby, that was callously stolen by a drug addict (I assume the thief was a drug addict because I found a lighter and only drug addict have lighters right?). Anyway, darn good thing I backed up my iPod otherwise I might be even more sad about it. Think about all the value that is on those things. Let's figure it out: So let's say you have the iPod Classic 80gb itself which is worth around $250. You have 40gb of music and around 30 movies on it. Here we go:

• 40gb of music is roughly 10,000 songs at $.99 per song = $9,900
• 30 movies at an average $8 dollars (assuming you bought it from iTunes, even if you didn't the time needed to convert a file is worth at least $8) = $240
• Total Value = $10,390

Valuable? I think so. Important to have backed up? YES! You might be asking, but I get all my music from my own computer where I have the files backed up anyway. Okay, that's all fine and good but don't you ever get music from another computer? Didn't know you could? You can hook your iPod to 5 computers max.

Use YamiPod. It has a pretty simple interface, its pretty easy to set up. Just follow the directions and you will be set. There are other iPod to computer applications in the world but this one is free and versatile as it works on Mac, PC, and Linux. Its pretty sweet. My props to the developer.

You need to download either via torrent or the binary. If you need some help, let me know.